Improved process of rotting hemp and flax



e. w. BILLINGS.

Treating Fiber. No. 40.154, 1 Patented 0m. 6, 1863.

Witnesses Md M Inventor: iwmzdw f AM. PHOTD-LITNO.C0.N.Y. (OSBORNE'S PROCESS) UNITED STATES PATENT OFFI E.

GEORGE W. BILLING-S, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVED PROCESS OF ROTTING HEMP AND FLAX.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,! 54, dated October 6, 1863; antedated September 20, 1863.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, GEORGE W. BILLINGS, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new Mode of Saturatin g, Fermenting, and Betting Flax and Hemp; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this specification.

The nature of my invention consists in the construction of a vat or tank of sufficient dimensions to contain a quantity of stalk, that when dressed will make a ton of two thousand pounds of lint or fiber. For this purpose it will require a space seventy feet long and-six feet square, inside measurement.

My vat is made of wrought-ironit may be made of any other suitable material. The iron should be oneeighth of an inch thick, in sheets as large as can be conveniently manufactured. The sheets are riveted together, and at one end there is a cast-iron frame of sufficient strength to hold and sustain the end on cap-piece.

a. a, Fig. 1, is the steam-pipe; B B B, th sides and end of the vat. G is the rail-track, on which the car is placed that holds the material. D D D D D D is the frame-work, which is placed around the vat to keep it in shape and increase its strength. E is the cap on end piece. F is the frame to which the cap on end piece is bolted.

Fig. 2 is the end piece. A A is the steampipe; B B, the rail-track. C O O O is the recess for the water-packing. D D D D is the flange through which the bolts fasten the cap to the frame F in Fig. 1. G' is the safetyvalve through which the air escapes while the liquid is filling the vat, and to determine the pressure required.

It is important that the vat should be perfectly tight, and of sufficient strength to sustain a pressure of thirty pounds to the square inch. The. flax or hemp is placed on a car ten feet long and five feet wide, and so arranged as to fit a press, not attached to this machine, and therefore, not represented. On this car the material to be worked is compressed, so

as to save all the space possible. The car is run into the vat from a conneoting'railway; the cap on 0nd piece in Fig.2 is then securely fastened, and water or liquid is then let into the vat and forced into the material by pressure equal to thirty pounds to the square inch. The liquid is kept at a temperature of 90 Fahrenheit by steam passing through the pi pe a a in Fig. 1. The pressure saturates the material, causing fermentation and rettin g to commence at once. The liquid, to commence with, is made of water and acid, but after the first vat is finished I use one part of the liquid from the first vat to three parts of fresh water. I make the liquid for the first vat of ninety-six (96) parts water and four (4) parts vinegar. When the liquid from the retted vat is introduced into the Water for a fresh vat, it should be passed through a fine sieve or filter to cleanse it of leaves and stems or pieces of stalks that may be drawn off with it. This is to prevent the choking up of the pipes used in pumping. The pressure in the vat is obtained by hydraulic power, using any convenient form of pump for that purpose. \Vhen the rotting is completed, which is done infortyfive to fifty hours, the liquid is drawn oftand the cars removed to the drying-stands. Cars of fresh material are already loaded and compressed, and the vat immediately filled. I

The time required to discharge and fill a vat does not exceed fifty minutes.

The safety-valve G is so arranged that a mans arm can pass down through the opening for the purpose of obtaining samples of the material for the purpose of testing its condition before removal.

It is well known that the stalk of hemp and flax is conical in form, the lower or root end, being hollow, and growing in the shade, is quite soft and brittle, while the top end, being exposed to the sun, is less hollow, more solid, and compact. By placing the stalk in Water in the ordinary method the root end becomes saturated in much less time than the top, and of course is retted sufficiently for removal before the top end is fermented. This is the cause of the uneven quality of the fiber. My process obviates this ditliculty. By placing the material under pressure with the prepared liquid the whole mass is in condition to 1. The inclosing the flax and hemp in a tank with warm liquid under pressure, substantially as described and set forth.

2. The use of the liquid from pret'ious operations by mixing the same with warm water, substantially as described and set forth.

GEO. W. BILLING S.

Witnesses:

JOHN S. HOLLINGSIIEAD, (J. H. WALKER. 

